THE LIMEY

With "The Limey" Steven Soderbergh has a very commerical subject, (an English gangster comes to LA to find out who was responsible for his daughter's death), and then directs it like Alain Resnais on speed or John Boorman in his "Point Blank" mode. Terence Stamp at his most taciturn, (and at his best), is the gangster and the cast also includes Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Barry Newman, Joe Dallesandro and Peter Fonda who almost walks off with the movie. It also looks terrific, (Ed Lachman was the cinematographer and this is one of the great Californian movies), and has a cracking script from Lem Dobbs. In fact, this has all the makings of a cult movie classic, which in this case means most people will shy away from it. Cinephiles, on the other hand, will love all the references, (we even get loads of clips from the Ken Loach movie "Poor Cow" to show Stamp's character as a young man), whereas a mass audience will probably find it too tricksy. Still, its pleasures are manifold and it already feels like a great little neo-noir. I rate it high in the Soderbergh canon.